Thread: U.S. rep to talk about Mexican border concerns

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U.S. rep to talk about Mexican border concerns
He'll meet with Texas authorities Friday about run-in with traffickers

12:00 AM CST on Thursday, February 2, 2006
By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT / The Dallas Morning News


WASHINGTON – The chairman of a House investigations subcommittee heads Friday to El Paso to talk with Texas authorities familiar with a possible Mexican military incursion into the U.S. last week.

Rep. Michael McCaul's visit comes four days before his Homeland Security investigations subcommittee convenes a hearing to examine the more than 200 Mexican military incursions documented over the last decade.

Several Texas border sheriffs who have raised alarm about the porous border and rising drug-fueled violence will testify.

Mr. McCaul, R-Austin, will meet Friday with Border Patrol, FBI and state and local law enforcement about a showdown last week between Texas officers and heavily armed drug traffickers in Mexican military-style garb.

"We're getting different accounts about how many guys, how many guns," said McCaul spokesman Jack Hirschfield. "We need to get the facts."

The U.S. and Mexican governments are investigating the incident, which occurred about 50 miles east of El Paso, and whether the uniformed men, traveling in a Humvee with heavy weaponry, were soldiers or traffickers posing as Mexican troops.

Amid conflicting assessments from the Mexican government, Mr. McCaul is set to meet Tuesday with Mexican Ambassador Carlos de Icaza.

E-mail mmittelstadt@dallasnews.com

Bush and all up there Keep saying err on the side of safety. Well, get some troops on the border, now.